On top of a directorial career that's going from strength to strength, Nicolas Winding Refn has been getting into the producing game of late backing the remake of his original pic "Pusher" and an Icelandic crime-drama titled "Black's Game" -- both of which will be unveiled this year. The Dane has now set up a teaming with horror-specialist duo William Lustig and Larry Cohen, and will be producing a prequel to their 1988 high-concept horror-actioner, "Maniac Cop."

On top of a directorial career that's going from strength to strength, Nicolas Winding Refn has been getting into the producing game of late backing the remake of his original pic "Pusher" and an Icelandic crime-drama titled "Black's Game" -- both of which will be unveiled this year. The Dane has now set up a teaming with horror-specialist duo William Lustig and Larry Cohen, and will be producing a prequel to their 1988 high-concept horror-actioner, "Maniac Cop."

The original centered on the idea of a brutal murderer on the streets of New York City dressed in a police uniform, with a young cop, his girlfriend and the detective in charge setting out to solve the mystery. Despite poor critical reception, two sequels were also born including a 1990 follow-on and a 2008 reboot.

While Lustig was careful to note that deals were not "100% signed off on but pretty close," he added that the project was "going to be more a prequel than anything else, I am really excited to come back to this world especially since Nic is going to be a part of it. Nic has been talking to us about it for a while now and I had an idea that would work so we’re going to do it.” Writer-producer Cohen also added that the latest chapter will maintain the noir-ish comic book feel of the first three but will have "a bigger budget than the others have had."

The film's set up is certainly an intriguing one (look no further than that poster tagline) and with Refn backing, we're keen to see what transpires from here. No helmer is attached to the project at this stage and, despite some suggestions, we'd doubt Refn would be willing to take it on. Not to mention that he already has his hands full with finishing "Only God Forgives," and has "I Walk With The Dead" with Carey Mulligannext and another re-teaming with Ryan Gosling on the "Logan's Run" remake in the works. [DailyGrindhouse]